Fighting for Andean Resources: Extractive Industries, Cultural Politics, and Environmental Struggles in Peru

Abstract

In this deeply researched monograph, the author explores the relationship between environmental risk, transnational extractive industries, and grassroots efforts to claim and practice citizenship in the Andes. International extractive projects in the Peruvian Andes have increased, following the shift toward neoliberal policies in the 1990s and the slow evolution of environmental regulations. These projects are often welcomed by the state and local communities, driven by the widely held belief that they will contribute to “development,” a promise often echoed by transnational companies but one that conjures different images at national, regional, and local levels. Vladimir R. Gil Ramón focuses on the Antamina project initiated in 1996 in Ancash Department near the Huascarán National Park. The book traces the development of the project, skillfully considering the logics of the state, the transnational corporation in charge of the project, several Andean communities, and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and international bodies that became involved as investors or were drawn into disputes over the environmental consequences of the project design. Ultimately, the author argues that efforts by local communities to demand compensation and mitigation of environmental degradation constitute claims to citizenship and the right to participation, challenging both the state's virtual absence and the rhetoric of “corporate social responsibility.”The first chapter lays the groundwork for the reader to understand the Antamina project, its relations with the state, its transnational networks and investors, and the underlying logics that shaped its interaction with local communities and with other interested parties (such as the World Bank and environmental NGOs). It also establishes the importance of the environmental impact assessment (EIA), meant to establish the criteria for assessing socioenvironmental impact yet a product of privatized transnational networks closely linked to the extractive industries. The EIA legitimized the mining project while minimizing local participation in decision-making, a factor that the author identifies as central to social sustainability. The second chapter considers the conflicts related to the relocation of affected populations. Based on previous experience and the expectation of steady employment, local communities sold land to the mine in the hope of initiating a reciprocal relationship. In contrast, the mine's corporate culture was impersonal and professional, basing land transactions on rates determined at the time of sale. The local communities' unmet expectations laid the foundation for future confrontations by undermining trust between the two sides.The third chapter, perhaps the book's most intriguing, follows the conflicts over plans to construct a road through the Huascarán National Park to transport ore. Here the company met with resistance from local communities as well as NGOs concerned for the park's fragile environments. The demand for participation and the status of the land helped broaden the networks of those who opposed the road, creating international pressure on the Antamina project to pivot toward a subterranean pipeline. This connection of NGOs and investors produced fruitful dialogue, applied pressure at a crucial phase in the project's development, and helped temporarily level the playing field between local interests and those of the mine. The fourth chapter considers the development myths that influence the state, the company, and local communities in their ongoing relationship. Preference for a “great work” emerged out of the expectation of reciprocity—particularly in the form of employment—which the mine's labor regime left unmet. The final chapter explores the conflicts between the power of state and mine authorities and the knowledge of local communities. Both sets of actors held differing definitions of environmental risk and the valuation for compensation. Through community claims regarding the impact on their environment, local actors developed a clearer understanding of their rights and connection to the state.This is an excellent case study of the conflicts that can emerge between Indigenous and vulnerable populations and extractive industries, as well as the international networks of financing and regulation that shape these conflicts. The text also documents how unexpected connections can produce effective results—as when the Mountain Institute connected environmental concerns to the investors of the Antamina project. The book speaks to the context of the Peruvian Andes, approaching debates over environmental degradation as instances of cultural conflict. The text is at its best when it demonstrates the intersection between the uniquely local and the homogenized transnational, presenting circumstances at once singular and yet broadly recognizable to scholars of the Andes. Another strength is the author's mastery of legal, economic, and anthropological literatures in addition to an impressive base of primary sources and interviews. Despite the prose's occasional density, the book will find a ready audience among scholars and graduate students interested in the strategies available for defending vulnerable environments and populations.